Learn the Issues
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Where can I find a copy of the annual applicant webinar presentations?
In each open application period, a PDF file version of the applicant webinar presentation will be made available on the EN website under "Resources." While we would ideally like to provide this as a recording, EPA requirements for external (public) recordings require significant time for approval. Often, it is not…
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Can a for-profit organization apply for an EN grant?
No, for-profit organizations do not meet eligibility criteria for the Exchange Network grant program as a lead applicant. In rare cases, for-profit organizations may be eligible to participate in a project as an EN partner and receive subaward funding; however, this is dependent on EPA approval which is rarely provided…
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What do I do if my agency or organization is not eligible?
Ineligible entities are encouraged to partner with eligible entities, if they themselves are not eligible under the EN Grant Program. Please note that the partnership eligibility criteria as defined in SN Section 4C must be met. Most importantly, the partnering entity cannot be from the same state agency, government, or…
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As a local agency, we are required to provide a letter from the Attorney General to show that we have status as an instrumentality. Is there anything you are looking for specifically in the letter?
The letter must be signed by the Attorney General on organizational letterhead and must confirm your organization's status as an instrumentality of the state. Instrumentalities of a Tribe must provide a certification and supporting documentation from the Tribal council or other appropriate Tribal government official certifying this status. Please note…
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What is the maximum number of projects that an applicant can submit?
According to 2A(i) Other Eligibility Requirements, item 7, an applicant may submit more than one application in a single grant cycle (fiscal year); however, applicants are not eligible to receive more than one award under this Solicitation. This restriction applies both to single applicants and, in the case of a…
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Can an organization who is participating as a partner in another EN grant application submit their own application for consideration in the same fiscal year?
We cannot award a partnership project in the same year that an individual project is being awarded. So, if, for example, Organization A applies both as an individual applicant and as part of the partnership application with Organization B, and both of these applications score high enough to be awarded…
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What projects are eligible for an EN grant?
Section 3A of the Solicitation Notice presents EPA's annual assistance activities, current EN funding areas (which must be supported in a proposed project), and a list of project write-ups known as EN ‘project opportunities’. These EN project opportunities are listed in Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, and provide potential…
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I have an idea for an EN grant project, can I send you that idea to confirm if the project is a good fit for your program?
Basically, as long as projects fall under one or more of the current EN Funding Areas and the requirements as outlined within our FY25 Solicitation Notice are met, we consider a wide variety of project types in our annual grant competition. Due to this being a competitive grant program, specific…
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If an applicant defined their own project opportunity rather than choosing one listed in Appendices A-C, should we seek pre-approval from epa prior to submitting?
As Exchange Network grants are competitive, we are unable to review any projects or provide project-specific advice prior. Applicants can propose projects that do not fall under one of the EN Project Opportunities as listed in Appendices A-C, so long as they are able to clearly describe how this project…
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Can work from a previously funded grant be expanded or improved upon?
Applications must not request funds for activities or deliverables for which the applicant has previously received funds. If a proposed goal and/or objective is similar to one(s) that have previously been funded, the application must thoroughly describe: How the proposed activities differ from those previously funded; How the current application…
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How do the project activities as listed in the EN project opportunities in Appendices A-C relate to the funding thresholds?
The funding thresholds are set by the application type – it is a limit of $400,000 for anyone applying as an individual applicant and, for eligible EN partnerships (coalition projects) that meet all the requirements in our SN, that funding threshold is increased to $600,000. (Note: we also have one…
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Our agency is considering applying for two projects within one grant application; is it better to submit them as two separate applications?
If an organization is combining two projects within a single application, all relevant details for both projects must be included within the 10-page project narrative. As such, application reviewers will score on the project as a whole (including both parts). This might impact the application's score if the 10-pages is…
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Does the EN Grant Program have any training requirements?
First time grant recipients or grantees who have not received an EPA assistance agreement since October 1, 2014 are required to complete two courses, the EPA Grants Management Training for Applicants and Recipients and the How to Develop a Budget .
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We are not sure if our project will take a full three years; can we plan our project to finish early?
The 3-year period of performance is a strict requirement for Exchange Network assistance agreements. If an application lists a period of performance shorter than three years, then this would have to be corrected prior to award if selected. Applicants are encouraged to include realistic and generous scheduled completion dates which…
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Can states or instrumentalities of the state apply under Funding Area 3?
The opportunities found within Funding Area 3 are only available to U.S. Territories, federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, instrumentalities of the Tribe, and inter-Tribal consortia of federally recognized Tribes (e.g., the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission). Neither states nor instrumentalities of the state may apply under Funding Area 3…
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Does it affect credibility/scoring of our application if this is the first time we are applying for the grant?
No, the credibility of first-time applicants is not affected by this; we have many new grantees each fiscal year. Please be sure to state you have never received a prior EN grant in the Past Performance section of your Project Narrative (Section 8). Please note, however, that there is an…
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Are scoring benefits given to a partnership (coalition) application over an individual application?
There are no scoring benefits or priorities given to an individual EN assistance agreement verses an eligible EN partnership assistance agreement; there are simply different funding thresholds available and some additional information required in the application attachments (see Solicitation Notice Appendix E for more details on this). Each application is…
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What are ‘business and/or administrative Needs’?
In the context of the EN Grant Program, this phrase indicates statements that define organizational requirement(s) that must be met in order to get an organization from where they currently are to where that organization would like to be. This could be improvements to or the implementation of programmatic workflows…
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Can you provide more information on ‘enhancing data sharing and availability for other organizations on the Exchange Network’?
Specific examples cannot be given for this, as it relates directly to our scored evaluation criteria. However, we do ask applicants to provide details on how the proposed work could enhance data sharing/availability for (1) immediate stakeholders (your organization and any formal EN partners, if applicable) and (2) organizations outside…
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Is the cost per project output breakout mandatory? Can we choose to leave this out or only provide costs per goal?
Costs per project output are scored under our evaluation criteria and therefore should be included. We also recognize that not everything is known at the time of proposal development; please just do the best you can in estimating costs and scheduled completion dates over the three-year period of performance (as…